GPS Diagnostic

Take our simple but powerful Growth & Profit Solution (GPS) diagnostic to help you identify your top three growth and profit issues for 2011 in just 10 minutes.

Training Education and Mentoring

Services Offered

One of the most effective ways for a firm to increase sales growth outside their normal customer groups or geographic markets is to submit proposals in response to Requests for Tender (RFT) issued by potential customers. This is true regardless of whether the firm supplies goods or services. The use of RFT or other variants of the same process is increasing for a number of reasons. Potential customers are interested in ensuring they obtain the best deal for their expenditure while at the same time improving the governance and transparency of their sourcing processes. Government departments have long used these processes and purchase a significant amount of goods and services from firms, both large and small.
In many cases, smaller firms fail to take advantage of this source of potential sales because of a number of misapprehensions about the RFT process. These include beliefs that only the large firms win this business, or that competitors put in unsustainable prices. In fact, carefully targeted proposals that meet all of the requirements of a RFT document have a good chance of success for both large and small businesses.
AD Supply Chain Group is able to provide a number of services that will help small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and larger firms increase their chances of success in winning competitive tenders. Firstly this is accomplished by training key commercial staff in how to manage and submit winning RFT projects. Secondly by providing RFT project support and mentoring for actual projects.

Training programs

Our training programs are based on an assessment of the particular needs of each client; however a typical program would consist of the following elements over approximately 12 to 14 hours:

Introduction to RFTs and why they are used

Preparing to Tender & Submission Planning

Development of the Tender approach including value propositions

The Tender document, themes, layout & content.

Importance of a critical review cycle.

How Customers will assess proposals

What to do if you win & what to do if you lose

Managing the transition from winning the business to contract execution and management.

We also ensure that there is opportunity to put the learning gained during the program into action by offering a free mentoring session to guide clients in the application on an actual RFT project.

Mentoring and RFT Project Support

Taking on a significant RFT project can stretch most organisations’ resources. This means careful project and resource management is needed to get all the necessary work completed in what can be very tight timeframes. Organisations may also lack the depth of experience to critically review the proposals they are putting forward. Professor Michael Porter of Harvard University has stressed as part of his series of books on Competitive Advantage that someone in a firm or on a project like an RFT response should be thinking like an Outsider.

AD Supply Chain can assist clients by bringing this outside view to RFT projects. We can ensure that the tender response addresses all of the issues required as part of the RFT document rather than being a reflection of the firm’s existing marketing materials. We can also proof read and ensure style consistency for the final document. This can assist in developing a professional looking submission that answers all of the questions the potential customer has asked.

Request For Tender Creation

AD Supply Chain also has extensive experience in creating RFT documents for clients who wish to go out to the market to source or obtain expressions of interest from prospective suppliers. This assistance can include initial supply base research to identify potential suppliers to receive the RFT, creating the specifications and legal terms and conditions as well as clearly laying out the expectations and formats for suppliers’ responses to the RFT. We can also help with the decision making process, short listing and presentation of decisions to senior management and boards as well as managing the transition from decision to formal agreement.

We also have a wide range of training, education and support programs that we are able to offer clients. AD Supply Chain takes pride in making sure that the programs are focused on relevant examples and materials. Wherever possible we attempt to link the programs to real projects within the clients operations so that as well as improvements in the knowledge base within the company there are also bottom line measurable improvements.

Diploma of Logistics

AD Supply Chain can offer a full Diploma of Logistics program that can be tailored to an individual client’s needs. Delivery can be based on a project format where classroom sessions are combined with “hands on” projects in the workplace. Alternatively the program can be delivered in a more traditional format with sessions in block mode, weekends or other approaches to minimise the impact on the business and the student. If the client is unable to put together sufficient students to make up a reasonable class size by themselves then AD Supply Chain can also deliver the same program in a cluster of different firms.
At the end of the program clients can choose between an award from Victoria University via Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) or a Diploma from a private Registered Training Organisation (RTO). The Victoria University option has the additional benefit that if constructed in the right way will also count towards the first year of a Bachelor Degree in Global Logistics.

Diploma of Purchasing

We can also offer a similar approach with a Diploma of Purchasing; however at this stage we can only offer an award from Victoria University via the RPL method.

Lean & Competitive Supply Chain/Operations

This area is a specialisation of AD Supply Chain. Offerings range from introductory sessions through hands on 10 Day Kaizen projects to full certificate level courses. As with the Diploma programs we always try to focus the assessment on a real project in the workplace. The intention is to leave the client with a measurable improvement in the operations as well as the capability to continue the process of making improvements and learning after we leave.

Executive Development and Short Courses

AD Supply Chain has developed a range of training sessions and short courses covering a wide range of subjects including:

Supply Chain Risk Management

Overhead Cost Management

Purchasing Category/Portfolio Management

Strategic Purchasing

Purchasing Cost Management

Waste Reduction Workshop

Negotiation Strategy Workshop

Warehouse Operations Improvement

Integrated Business Planning/Sales & Operations Planning

Competitive Supply Chain

Inventory Optimisation

Tender Training (Evaluation and Submission)

Supply Chain Collaboration & Relationships

Lean & Agile Concepts

Supply Chain Simulation Workshop

In this workshop participants are tasked to run a Supplier, Manufacturer and Retailer. They make decisions on purchases, production and inventory. Retailers are able to influence demand by running promotions. Demand is otherwise random within defined bands. As with a real Supply Chain there are costs to holding Inventory and penalties for failing to meet demand.
Decisions made in the Supply Chain need to take into account the lead times that rule what can be physically achieved. While pricing for products are pre-set the goal is to make money and this is achieved by being both Lean (i.e. not having too much inventory) and Agile (i.e. delivering what the customer wants when they want it). Additional distribution steps such as a DC after Manufacturing can be added to reflect the type of network the client is engaged in.

Training Needs Analysis

AD Supply Chain can undertake a review of a client’s skills and capabilities and compare them with their current and future needs. The resulting analysis can them be used to develop focused training and development programs for the client and their staff.

Mentoring and Support

Either as a follow on from one of our training programs or as a standalone process we can provide “one on one” support for individuals or teams. This provides a further enhancement of the learning process that individuals and organisations go through by helping them through the first stages of the implementation of new ideas.

Facilitated Management Meetings

If you are finding your monthly or quarterly Management meetings lack power and strategic outcomes consider using AD Supply Chain to facilitate them for you. Imagine a meeting chaired by an independent person focusing on outcomes such as profit, growth, sales or people where the agenda results in a one page plan with specific actions to be completed by agreed dates. Benefits include:

Access to "best practice" tools and processes

Specific measurable outcomes

Link to your overall business strategy

The program is normally made up of a 2 to 4 hour monthly management meeting and unlimited telephone and email support.

If you have any questions about our programs or have specific needs in the areas of Supply Chain, Purchasing, Management or other areas of business that are not covered above then please feel free to contact us for a discussion.